It may have taken 10 minutes Sunday, but the Sharks didn't waste any more time in establishing a tone for their second-round Stanley Cup playoff series.

San Jose hit everything that moved, got even-strength goals from Patrick Marleau and Christian Ehrhoff in each of the first two periods and gave goalie Vesa Toskala all the defensive support he would need for a 2-1 victory in the opener of the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series against the Edmonton Oilers.

Pesky third-line forward Ville Nieminen led the hit parade, getting credit for a Sharks' season-high 15, as San Jose pushed and punished its way around the HP Pavilion ice. Edmonton didn't have nearly enough push-back and must grab tonight's second game or face returning home down 2-0 in the series.

"We just wanted to make life difficult for the defense," Sharks coach Ron Wilson said. "I think it got contagious the way our crowd was responding to every hit. I just think guys picked up on that."

The Sharks weren't sure what kind of defensive tack Edmonton might display. In their six-game upset of top-seed Detroit in the opening round, the Oilers dropped back, let the Red Wings attack, but didn't need to expend energy in the corners because of Detroit's finesse.

Against San Jose, the Oilers did just the opposite. They sent skaters in deep, forcing the Sharks to work for every piece of ice and guard against turnovers deep in their own zone. San Jose responded by moving the puck and skating with Edmonton, and it was especially effective on the forecheck.

"We're a different puck-possession team than Detroit," Wilson said. "We don't mind giving the puck up and winning it back with our size and speed, especially up front."

After surrendering the first goal of the series on the first power play -- Jaroslav Spacek's one-timer from the right circle came 98 seconds after Sharks rookie defenseman Matt Carle hooked Radek Dvorak 55 seconds after the opening face-off -- San Jose turned it around on one shift.

Marcel Goc's line, including hard-hitting wingers Scott Thornton and Nieminen, applied heavy hits against Oilers in their own zone, getting the sellout crowd into the game and turning the momentum.

"We had some good jump tonight, we just tried to get in and finish checks," Thornton said. "Everyone who jumped over the boards did a good job."

Marleau's line stepped on the ice next, and rookie Milan Michalek came up with a neutral-zone turnover that led to the tying goal. At the end of the sequence, Steve Bernier fed Marleau from behind the net and the leading goal-scorer in the playoffs one-timed a shot from the inside edge of the left circle past Dwayne Roloson at 7:42 of the first period.

San Jose rallied to record eight of the opening period's last 12 shots, and that dominance continued in the middle period. The Sharks, who outshot the Oilers 9-2 in the second period, broke through at 3:14 for the game-winner.

Michalek took the puck from Edmonton defenseman Steve Staios in a battle behind the Oilers' net, but the Sharks were denied initially when Roloson stopped two shots in close by Bernier. The puck eventually popped out to Ehrhoff at the left point and the defenseman scored his first career playoff goal, a laser to the top far corner.

The Sharks took more penalties than they would have liked, five in all and three after they took the lead. But after giving up a goal on the first shorthanded situation (they gave up the first three to Nashville in Game 1 of the opening round), San Jose was quick to adjust.

Edmonton had only one shot on a combined 6:23 on its last four power plays.

"We still took too many penalties. I can't say enough about our penalty kill and Vesa back there making the big saves when we needed it," Thornton said.

In the third, a period in which the Sharks had 12 of the 17 shots, Edmonton threatened only near the end. With Roloson pulled for an extra attacker for the final 90 seconds, Nieminen iced the puck twice and narrowly missed an empty-net goal to give the Oilers life.

"We iced the puck unnecessarily, but we weathered the storm," Wilson said. "We're probably going to have to play better (tonight) than we did" Sunday.

Western semifinals

Sharks lead series 1-0

Game 1: Sharks 2, Oilers 1

Tonight: At San Jose, 7:30 p.m., OLN

Wednesday: At Edmonton, 7 p.m., OLN

Friday: At Edmonton, 5 p.m., FSNBA

*Sunday: At San Jose, 7 p.m., FSNBA

*May 17: At Edmonton, 6 p.m., FSNBA

*May 19: At San Jose, TBA, FSNBA

*If necessary

Note: OLN is on Comcast Channel 81 in San Francisco. To locate OLN on your television system, go to olntv.com/findoln/